<p>for the oil painting one… i just listed my stuff and then said why it was important, kind of in this format – thing: represents this…; thing 2: signifires this…, etc (i only had 3 things). do you think that’s ok, because otherwise there’s no way to fit all 3 things which are all extremely important to me/show different sides of me.</p>
<p>why not? it can be over 50. im at about 300 words… yes thats a bit much ill shrink it. dont do it as you have described. it just isnt proper for this situation. 50 words is a bit crazy im sorry id say 150-200. dont worry about the words though, if its interesting then its good. i think mine is pretty interesting.</p>
<p>That’s how I formatted my short essay as well. I don’t see anything wrong with that; as you said, there isn’t really any other way to do it.</p>
<p>I think this is kinda like the USC short statements, where you just list, maybe in just one word, your favorite book, musician, quote…</p>
<p>This section is so small - there isn’t really any other way to do it.
<a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/news/short-statements.htm[/url]”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/news/short-statements.htm</a>
I guess they just wanna know your other tidbit interests.</p>
<p>I really don’t see how you’re gonna fit 300 words into that section.</p>
<p>hm from that link it seems like they only want one object… </p>
<p>“The question is meant simply to spark your thinking about an item or object you find to be important, meaningful, and/or symbolic to you, and why.”</p>
<p>I had about 3 different objects in mine initially, should I go back and change it to only one then?</p>
<p>i think you should stick with around 50 words. they gave a limit for a reason. they want you to find a way to be concise. yeah? that’s part of the challenge. i was at exactly 50 words and i had 3 items.</p>
<p>wait…are you guys all doing the supplement online? Because on the pdf, there’s no word limit, just space limit. answer quickly!</p>
<p>um, and what is shrinking? are you guys inserting text onto the pdf, or writing it out? I was going to write it out.</p>
<p>hm, i was under the impression that the 50 word “limit” was part of the challenge they were going for on those. I would like to explain my answer better but don’t know how they would take that. i had two objects by the way.</p>
<p>could someone answer my question…</p>
<p>why the hell would you do 300 words for a prompt that says use 50
idiot…</p>
<p>i agree with itsmike and peachiexice, it says 50 words for a reason. the admission staff must be dumbstruck by all these “exceptional” applicants who can’t follow simple directions.</p>
<p>When at the Discover NU program, the admissions people said to absolutely adhere to the word limit on all essays. If you go over by much, they will likely pass you over for not following the directions. They said that a few words over would be ok (3 or 4), but you must follow the instructions! It’s up to you how many objects you use and how you compose the submission. That’s the finesse of the question!</p>
<p>There are thousands of applications to read and they have the luxury of looking for reasons to deny applicants. Not sure why you’d want to risk it.</p>
<p>Wait…but my Why NU essay was like, 350 words…is that like, an automatic reject then?! <em>freaks out</em></p>
<p>Should I send in another, shorter one? (Though I have no idea how I’d shrink it more than I did…)</p>
<p>Sigh, and I was so excited to finally press the “Submit” button yesterday…</p>
<p>No…I don’t think 50 words over for the long essay is THAT bad. </p>
<p>The 50 word short answers are specifically meant to be SHORT, so I can understand them saying to stay within 5 words over, but for the long essay I think you’ll get a little bit more leeway.</p>
<p>For example, my common app essay was 587 which was more than the 500 limit, but it’s not like it was ridiculously long. I think that as long as your 350 word essay still remains concise and has strong content, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I don’t think 50 words over is an automatic rejection. They will probably notice - it is an extra 17% - but if it’s good enough, they shouldn’t mind. However, 300 words on a 50 word limit is absolutely insane. That is a full 6 times what they asked for. </p>
<p>To the OP, that’s pretty much what I did. I had 2 items and used the format you posted. I had either exactly 50 or 51.</p>
<p>“it just isnt proper for this situation. 50 words is a bit crazy im sorry id say 150-200.”</p>
<p>isn’t that for the admissions staff to decide?</p>
<p>thanks a lot guys – i really appreciate your feedback. i would also agree that even 150 words seems way too long for this short answer, especially when they say “please limit your answers to no more than 50 words.” both of mine are 51, though, but again, i would think 4-5 words isn’t too bad since it’s 10% longer than what they ask for, which has always been my policy on maximum words.</p>
<p>I don’t think word limit matters that much for the main essay. My friend wrote close to a 1000 words, none of which are repetitive and irrelevant. My essay is around 650 words. I know several people from the past who’ve written from 600-700 words and still got accepted to top colleges. </p>
<p>The short response on the other hand, the application does specifically state “no more” than 50 words. So yeah, I think it should be no more than 60 words. Just my thought hahah.</p>
<p>Is it okay to have three lines. Mine is basically:</p>
<p>Sentence 1: My X and Y will surround me.
Sentence 2: [Reason why X is important]
Sentence 3: [Reason why Y is important]</p>
<p>I really don’t know any other way of doing it because of the length constraints. Is this fine?</p>
<p>^^^ I don’t think there is any one correct answer.</p>